


Crazy Little Thing

by prairiecrow



Category: ReBoot (TV)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-29
Updated: 2011-07-29
Packaged: 2017-10-21 22:22:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prairiecrow/pseuds/prairiecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, late at night, Bob thinks about things. Crazy things. Like impossible possibilities and all that's implied but never actually spoken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crazy Little Thing

... tabbit, I knew I shouldn’t have had that last cup of java. Can’t sleep. Maybe if I just lie still and keep my eyes closed, it’ll come.

If I get up now I’ll be up for milliseconds, and be yawning all through my meeting with Dot in the morning. And then she’ll smile at me and ask me _How did you sleep last night?_ , and because I can’t say _I wish you knew first-hand_ — yeah, that’d go over like a lead null — I’ll have to smile back and say _Fine, thanks. Just give me an energy shake and I’ll be good to go!_  


*sigh* And she will.

Dot. She’s — everything: smart, competant, funny, totally hot. All she has to do is give me that smile of hers, the teasing one that makes her eyes light up, and I almost forget how to talk straight. Sure, she’s a little hung up on planning things all the time, but I’m pretty sure there’s nothing she can’t do if she really sets her mind to it. I couldn’t ask for a better partner in the Games — or anywhere else.

Maybe one second...

Crazy, huh? If she were interested in me I’d have seen it by now. I mean sure, she kind of flirted with me once, when she was singing that song for Enzo, but the push she gave me when I was expecting a kiss set me straight pretty tabbed fast. Guess I’m the kind of sprite she only wants as a friend.

*sigh*

Flirting. Dell, I’ve gotten that from _Megabyte_ , of all people, within ten nanoseconds of meeting him face-to-face that first time I went to the Tor... although I have to admit that I was the one who started it.

 _  
Not being from Mainframe, you’ll have to forgive me — it’s taken me a while to realize the advantages of having a... friend like you.   
_

Yeah, walking into a virus’s lair without a plan and giving him that look and that tone of voice — probably not my brightest moment. As long as I’m admitting things, I might as well say that I surprised even myself with that one.

 _  
A wise decision, Guardian — I won’t disappoint you.   
_

... and then he turned around and sent it right back at me. I tried to keep the look of shock off my face. Still not sure if I succeeded.

And still not sure why I did it in the first place. I mean, he’s a _virus_. They’re not exactly known for doing things the way sprites do, so I had no reason to think that he’d even get the reference. But he not only got it, he took it and turned it around and used it against me.

 _  
Precisely. You know only Guardians and Games dropped by Users are able to stabilize tears like these — and I’m so much more intimate with you now than any User... aren’t I?   
_

Oh boy, did he ever. There are still nights — like tonight — when I lie here in bed and close my eyes and hear him speaking: no specific words, just that soft murmur in my ear, slightly husky, _very_...

*cough*

Yeah. Like I said — crazy.

But dangerous. And one thing I’ve always loved is danger: tears and Games, outwitting and outplaying the User, saving lives and being the hero. Winning the admiration of people like Dot Matrix and Enzo. Driving viruses like Megabyte nuts because no matter how hard they try, I’m just _ better_ than they are.

I’ll never be better than Dot. Her equal maybe, in a totally different way, but there’s no way in Dell I could run a business or wrangle contracts or be the kind of leader she is.

And am I really better than Megabyte? I can keep him from reaching the Supercomputer and stop him from conquering Mainframe, but I can’t shut him down: his influence penetrates every sector of the System.

Of course I _could_ just delete him. And according to Guardian protocol that’s what I should have done a long time ago. But knowing Megabyte he’d have some kind of back-up plan in place if I tried — probably something along the lines of what he pulled when we tried to break down his format in the Principle Office. Having Sector G-Prime crash the nanosecond he’s deleted sounds about his speed...

So yeah. Leaving him compiling’s the safest bet.

*shifts a little*

Wonder what he’ll try next. Whatever it is, it won’t work.

He sure can play guitar, though. Guess being a viral overlord means he can practice as much as he wants to.

*yawn*

Now _that_ was pretty alphanumeric, trading riffs. He even gave Enzo the guitar afterwards. Too bad he can’t be like that all the time. Make my job a lot easier.

And maybe we’d even be able to...

*blush*

Now where the Dell did _ that_ thought come from? Uh-uh, Bob — don’t go there. Even if he magically turned benign overnight (and there’s been plenty of proof since Enzo’s birthday that he’s anything but), the Council would have my inline code just for thinking about something like that. Viruses compromise your integrity, period. No fraternization. And sure as Dell nothing more... _intimate_.

So why am I even thinking about it?

That voice. _User._

And he flirted back. Maybe it was plain ol’ manipulation: he saw a potential weakness and tried to take advantage of it.

Or maybe...

 _  
So why’d you flirt with him in the first place, Bob?   
_

*groan*

Yeah, all right, he’s tall and broad and strong and when he speaks I’m pretty sure that’s what fallen angels sound like, and let’s face it, it’s hard not to wonder what those claws would feel like... or those teeth, right _ there_, and yep, it’s a tabbed good thing nobody around here can read minds.

Especially Dot, who’s small and strong and soft and everything I should want, under the circumstances.

And I do want her. And she has no idea. And even if she _did_ have some idea, something tells me she wouldn’t be interested.

... I wonder if Megabyte is?

 _  
*grooooaaaaan!*   
_

Oh, User... if he could read my mind (thank the User that I have Guardian protocols, unlike poor Phong), there’s no word for the kind of trouble I’d be in. Because he’d blackmail me from here to Delta Prime.

Maybe he’d even take it out in kind.

 _No_. Do **_not _** go there. Think about Dot: the way her hair catches the light. How smooth her skin is. How it would feel to touch it... how it would feel to kiss her mouth, soft and sweet and absolutely perfect. Think about how much you want her — some days so bad that you can almost taste it. And more than that... think about how much you love her.

All true, even if you’ll never be more to her than a good friend. But...

Under that, behind that, there’s something else: something darker and made of pure instinct. The part of me that wants to be raked and bitten and pinned down and... yeah, taken. The part of me that just wants to close my eyes and let things happen. Not the leader. Not the hero. Not the Guardian, although I’m pretty sure Megabyte would never forget that while he worked me over. Or let me forget it.

 _Hunger._ Plain and simple. Well, for me, anyway: Megabyte would take it and twist it into something to wind around me like a chain. He’d whisper my title — _Guardian_ — like a knife cutting through my core, a reminder of everything I was betraying while my hands clutched at metal and I was trying so hard just to breathe. And he’d laugh while I came. I can hear him now, dark and cold and full of corruption.

Blackmail would be the least of my problems.

...

Right. This is going nowhere. Time to get up and turn on the lights and make a fresh pot of java, watch a little vidwindow, maybe make some mental notes for the meeting tomorrow. Take another shot at fixing the timing problem on the 262 if I'm feeling really ambitious.

Anything but this. Next thing you know I’d start thinking about Mouse and Hexadecimal... and that’s too crazy, even for me.

THE END


End file.
